Cupcake Tins

I know this is a dumb thing to complain about but I am going to anyway. I just hate washing cupcake tins! You have to put the brush in each one of the compartments and make sure each one is completely clean. It is just a pain. I made cupcakes last week for Groundhog's Day and I have gone through a few loads of dishes since then and have even washed some other items by hand but I just can't get myself to wash the cupcake tins. I just set them aside nicely on the counter. There I said it, now I feel a lot better. Now I think I am going to finally wash those tins or throw them away (just kidding, I would never do that now. I only did that in college).

****UPDATE (about 2 hours later)****

Sam is washing them as I type. Oh he is so wonderful! Hooray for no more dirty cupcake tins in the sink!!

Power outage

Yesterday afternoon there was a notice on the wall of our building that the power was going to be out from 8-3 today. The electric company was going to "improve" their system and wiring. This wasn't a big deal. I figured I could work early in the morning and then again at 3:00. It helps that Utah is 2 hours behind us so it would only be 1:00 there when I could work again. That didn't happen at all. The power finally came on again at 6:00 tonight. Oops, guess they didn't figure in some extra hours for mistakes.

It wasn't a terrible day though. I just broke out our lantern and was able to relax. I got halfway through my book and took an afternoon nap. It is nice when I don't have to work all day. When I knew the power wasn't coming on again at 3, I was responsible and went to the library where I was able to log onto my work computer and get some work done. I would much rather have power off then water off for the day. That happened once and I went crazy.

Mini Pepperoni

Okay many of you are going to think I am dumb for even posting about this, including Sam but I don't care! We were making our favorite pasta salad yesterday for the Linger Longer that we had after church today. It is a recipe that I think we originally got from my sister, Kelly. It is one of those that of course has the pasta, broccoli, cauliflower, olives, pepperoni and then a cheese & garlic dressing over it. Anyway, when we get the pepperoni, we have to cut each piece into fourths so you don't have too big of pieces in the salad. This has always been annoying to us even though it really doesn't take that much effort. We recently discovered at Costco that they sell a bag of mini pepperonis. Genius idea!!
Right when we saw them, we knew they would be perfect for our salad. They were more that perfect, they were also really cute. I find myself now trying to think of other ways to use the mini pepperonis. Maybe this week, we will make mini pizzas for the mini pepperonis or on the back of the bag they had a few more recipes to use them in. I know you are all jealous and are probably planning a trip to Costco to get some. If you don't have a membership, I can always just go with so you can share in my excitement for the mini pepperonis!

Nevermind...

Interesting! Ice cream for $1.99 or carrots. Obviously we know what this person chose. We thought it was funny to think of the thought process of the person that ditched the carrots. I bet they were trying to stick to eating healthy but couldn't resist a bargain. I promise it wasn't us, we wouldn't have even messed with the carrots.

Jewel's teeth

I was watching Dancing with the Stars last night while Sam was on the computer. All of a sudden he looked over at the tv and said, "I have always wanted to fix Jewel's teeth every time I see them." I just thought it was funny that he is already thinks like a dentist. I am sure my sisters Crystal and Cami look at her and think the same thing ever since they had braces. I just thought that was funny for him to say that because I have never really noticed her teeth.

Okay... maybe I do have a problem

2 of my roommates from college posted about things that they have a great abundance of. Emily has tons of jeans and Merilee has a ton of sprinkles. I was telling Sam about this and I said that I really don't have anything that I have a ton of. I continued to tell him that I am so good at getting rid of things lately and have not been a pack rat. Of course I still have my 200 pencil collection from elementary. I worked at the school store and used to buy them all the time. (I know, what a dumb thing to collect) Those are packed away at my parent's house. I also still have all of my Little Mermaid memorabilia stored at my parent's house also but besides that I have been really good. Sam just laughed and then showed me my crazy addictions.

Okay so I may have quite a few candles. The funny thing is, I really haven't bought many while we have been out here. You know trying to save money and everything. There are a total of 42 and they all smell differently. Sam also reminds me that I have some packed away in my holiday boxes and I left a few in Utah. I have to have this many candles. There are the decorative candles, the little candles that go in holders, then there are different scents I like to smell at different times of the year. Of course I am not going to have my cinnamon candle smell in the spring. That is just common sense. I will admit that I do have an obsession with Salt City Candles. I just love them so much. Their scent lasts the longest of any brand I have every bought. These are all essential to my survival.
I also have a ton of playing cards. We play many games that you need multiple decks and I have a big family that plays these games!! I have to be able to supply enough cards so everyone can play. There are 30 all together. Okay so maybe we never use that many decks in one game but sometimes come kind of close. When we play hand-and-foot, we have to have 1 more deck than there are people. In Nertz, we have to have a different deck for each person. The decks also have to all have different backs to them. You can never have too many decks of cards.
Okay now I have admitted my problem of maybe collecting a little too many of specific items. I have to say if I had enough room to store them, I would have tons of blankets too. I just love them.

Now I ask all of you the same question... What is in your closet? What do you have a ton of? Everyone has something, I am sure of it.

Just plain Junk!

I told Sam yesterday that I am sick of our bathroom closet and I am going to organize and make it look nice for sure sometime this week. I told him that if there is anything that he really wants to keep then go and get it otherwise it will probably end up in the garbage since a lot of the stuff is really old.
What did he choose to take away from the closet you ask. All of those dumb sample shampoo and conditioners that we get from hotels. He drives me crazy with them. He loves collecting them. He never uses them. He uses them at the hotel and that is the end of it. I have thrown away so many when he doesn't notice but these are the last and that is what he wants to save. It is good to know what he may go and grab for if there was a fire. It just makes me laugh so I thought I would share in his craziness. Keep in mind that the big bottles are from our hotel in Las Vegas on our honeymoon, and that was 4 years ago!!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Do you ever have some things in your house that you just couldn't live without? I just wanted to share of few of mine with you.

First, our can opener. I love this thing. You just have to put it on the can press the button and it takes over and does the rest. It works every time. My mom gave it to us as a Christmas present last year and I really couldn't live without it now. It is really great if you have to open multiple cans, my hand gets tired after a while.
Second, my candle lamp. I used to use a candle warmer but I always hated it because I could never smell the candle until the whole thing was melted down. With this candle lamp, you can smell it right when you turn on the lamp and it is a really cute decoration also. I use this almost every day to keep my apartment fresh smelling! I have a million Salt City candles that I have to prove to Sam they aren't a waste of money.The last thing is my shower bug. I love listening to music and this makes showering so much more enjoyable. I got this from my sister, Heather a couple years ago and still love it.You gotta love the simple things in life!!

Sam is Driving me Crazy!!

Sam has been home the last couple of weeks for his break from school and he is starting to really drive me nuts. Let me explain. It is hard in our little one bedroom apartment where we have to always be in the same room together. When I am working I have to tell him to mute the tv when I have to make a phone call. If I didn't have to work then it wouldn't be a problem at all because I could actually hang out with him. Lucky for me he sleeps in until noon so I at least have the morning alone time. I am used to listening to The View and Gilmore Girls in the background on tv while I work. While Sam is here I have to listen to PTI (for those of you who don't know what this is, it stands for Pardon The Interruption, a sports talk show), Sports Center or some dumb movie that he taped on tivo. I am just used to my regular routine and he is interrupting it now. Where is school again!!? Only one more week and then I will be free again. Although I know the second he starts school again, I will wish he was home all day.

On another note, today while Sam was home he made me lunch while I was working (this is a very nice thing about having him around). He made some chocolate milk and I was explaining that I just like a little bit of chocolate in it. I just want to barely taste it, "I like it light brown. " He then said, "Just like you like your men!" I was dying laughing, it killed me!